What the Heart Wants
by livngnmymind
Summary: The heart wants what the heart wants, even if its impossible. Except this is Warehouse 13 and the impossible happens every day. Steve J. and female W13 charac. Rating will change later. No spoilers. Happens as if Jinks lives through season 3.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Warehouse 13 or any of its characters. I'm only playing a little game of What If? with them.**

**Wanting and Waiting**

He stands in front of the door. Hoping and praying for a sign, divine intervention, inspiration to strike, or just a little jolt of insane breathless courage to get him through the next minute, he raises his hand and knocks on the door.

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><p>"You can't choose who you fall in love with."<p>

Steve Jinks had heard the saying just like everyone else had, but never once in a million years had he thought it would apply to him. It made absolutely no sense what-so-ever and still he couldn't help himself. Somehow, somewhere along the way he realized he was in love.

This wouldn't have been shocking, except he's gay. Still, no big deal right?

Wrong.

Because stupid, gigantic moron that he is has fallen whole heartedly, 100 percent, driven to compose epic poems, in love with a woman.

So of course, he kept it a secret. Ironic isn't it, the human lie detector, keeping a secret this monumental. But how could he tell everyone? They'd been so accepting, so nonjudgmental when he'd informed them he was gay. He had expected Artie at least to be upset and annoyed by the confession. Artie in fact was more annoyed with Steve's lie detecting ability. If he told them this, they'd think he was crazy, or worse under the influence of some artifact.

And maybe, in some weird way, he is under the influence of an artifact; the oldest and most powerful one known to mankind. The human heart; with it's need and capacity for love, the human heart has inspired great works, both wonderful and tragic and every degree in between. It was the in between that currently tortured Steve.

Because the one person he desperately wanted, hell needed, to tell was the one person he couldn't. She'd never believe him. She would laugh it off and Steve would feel more like a reject than ever before. Besides she deserves better, someone smarter, someone funnier; someone that is completely the opposite of him.

Maybe that's what started this quandary; that the two of them are so obviously different from everything he's accustomed to and yet they fit together like they were meant to be. Two oddballs, even in a group of odd characters. They shouldn't work, it's logical that they wouldn't. But in the way of the wondrous, senseless, insanity of the Warehouse, Steve found that being with her not only makes sense, it is also the only sane thing about place.

If asked he'd be hard pressed to say exactly what it is that he loves in/about her. It's everything that she does and says, all of who and how she is that he loves. It's for all these reasons and more, so many more, that he's kept these feelings hidden, never let her know how he truly feels.

Besides, she could never love him. At least, not the way he loves her. That would be impossible.

He's tormented each day as he works by her side and tortured each night as he lays down to sleep so close and so far from where he desires to be; tormented and tortured, until his rational mind can no longer control the overwhelming need to confess the agonizing passion in his heart.

And so here he is, standing in front of her door, his feet having carried his reluctant conscience and aching heart to the spot he most wants and fears to be. His body tenses as he waits for her to open the door. It's now or not at all.

The door opens and as he hears her voice whisper the ever familiar "Hey, Jinksy." he knows that he's leapt over the precipice. The only question now is: how far does he have to fall?

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><p><em>So? Any thoughts? Like it or not? Drop me a line and let me know. Care to guess who she is? C'mon shouldn't be that hard. P.S. Warehouse 13 Rocks!<em>


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Warehouse 13 or any of its Characters.** But man I wish I_did._**Just playing What If? with them.**_

_**Rating: Still K+ but may change next chapter. **_

**Falling**

The door opens and as he hears her voice whisper the ever-familiar "Hey, Jinksy." he knows that he has leapt over the precipice. The only question now is: how far does he have to fall?

Steve's mother had once told him "The heart knows no boundaries of time or distance, there is no rhyme nor reason for the love we feel. The heart wants what the heart wants and no amount of struggling or rationalization on our part will change that."

He had not believed her then.

He believed her now.

Especially now that he is currently gazing into the soft brown eyes of the person his heart wants and truth be told, Steve is more terrified than he can ever remember being.

His heart feels like it is trying to beat its way out of his chest, his brain is screaming at him to turn around and run, except his feet are nailed to the floor. Steve realizes he had been caught the very second his nickname had left her lips, and now that the lamplight is playing over her face, he can see she's been crying.

Then, before he knows how it happened, Steve wraps her in his arms, holding her close to his aching heart. With his cheek resting on the top of her head, he can feel the sobs wracking her slender frame and he silently curses whatever it was that made him choose this night, of all nights, to break down and confess how his soul yearns for her.

After several minutes of her tears, soaking the front of his shirt Steve had gathered his courage and convinced his vocal chords to work. Even as his hands gently smooth her hair and caress her back, he speaks to her in a quiet tone.

"Claudia," he murmurs into her bright copper hair, "Why are you crying?"

Steve hears her breath hitch and feels the motion as she tries to shake her head 'no' while keeping her face buried in his chest. As much as he wants to stay in this exact position, until he is old and needs a cane to walk would be fine, Steve knows he has to discover the source of his, normally bright, angel's pain.

Moving back ever so slightly, Steve cups her face gently between his palms, his thumbs wiping away the tears flowing down her cheeks.

Ignoring the horrid pangs radiating through his body, Steve tilts her head upward to meet his searching gaze.

"Tell me, Claudia.," he croons softly.

Claudia's shoulders shudder and her eyes close tightly in an attempt to stem the flood of tears as she answers him.

"He lost a bet." she mumbles.

"What?" Steve asks, certain he misheard.

"Derek," she responds forlornly, "The only reason he asked me out on a date tonight was because he lost a bet."

Steve's mind raced as he recalled how earlier in the week Claudia had returned to the boardinghouse excited and nervous because a young man from town had asked her on a date. She had bubbled about it all week, while Steve had smiled and done his best to conceal the agony he'd felt from everyone, even Leena.

As he leaned down to lightly brush his forehead against hers, he regretted more than anything else not speaking up sooner. If he had known his profession of adulation would have spared her even one second of misery, Steve would have poured the words out the instant he'd found out about the date. Now all he could do was patch up her broken heart and put his own back behind the shields he used to hide it from the world.

"Please don't cry anymore, Angel." Steve whispered, "He doesn't deserve your tears or you."

"I thought, actually believed, that he asked me out because he was interested in me." Claudia stammered as she angrily swiped the tears from her face. "I should have known better, I should have known that a nice, normal guy would never be interested in me."

Steve lifted his head and stared into her hurt filled eyes. Desperate to stop the downward spiral he could sense looming close, Steve softly brushed several stray hairs from Claudia's face before he said what he hoped would make the hurt lessen.

"That's not true Angel.," he stated firmly, holding her gaze. "I know for a fact nice guys find you irresistible."

Claudia sniffed, her eyes imploring as she said, "Yeah right, Jinksy. Name one nice, normal, guy that finds me, ME, irresistible."

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><p><em>Okay, I meant this story to be a two-shot, but it's not working out that way. One more chapter ought to do it. Anyway read and review(s) pretty please. Thank you and Warehouse 13 rocks!<em>


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:Nope still don't own any characters or Warehouse 13 show. **

**Rating: UHm, M in this chapter just because I'm paranoid. So Don't say I didn't warn ya.**

Truth

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><p>"<em>That's not true Angel," he states firmly, holding her gaze. "I know for a fact nice guys find you irresistible."<em>

_Claudia sniffs, her eyes imploring as she said, "Yeah right, Jinksy. Name one nice, normal guy that finds me, ME, irresistible."_

"_The truth shall set you free"._

_Steve had always taken this phrase rather literally throughout his life, now he was learning that the truth can free more than just your body. If you have the courage, the truth can release the bindings around your heart and the fetters around your soul. If only he has the courage. Dearest God, how he hopes he has the courage! "Tell her Now or Not At All, Steve" he commands himself. _

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><p>Steve had to concentrate, hard, to draw in enough breath to allow him say anything and then of course, fear of rejection, the likes of which he's never encountered, strangles his voice, rendering him speechless.<p>

Claudia, mistaking his silence for an answer, nods her head and begins to extricate herself from his embrace.

"Like I said, I should know better." Claudia murmurs sadly, as she slowly steps away from the only true solace she's found in longer than she cares to recall.

Dejected and hurt more than she would ever admit by what appears to her as another rejection, Claudia can't stop the words from spilling forth.

"I guess I got too used to you, an' Pete and even Artie, treating me like I'm actually someone special. When all you really see me as is the semi-useful e-geek that dresses like an 80's flashback, which you keep around because you don't quite know how to get rid of me."

Momentarily stunned by her words, Steve blurts out the first thing that flashes through his mind.

"That's a lie."

"Please Jinks, I can't deal with the human lie detector right now." Claudia says as she scrubs the tears from her cheeks. "I really just want to be alone for a while."

The human lie detector. Its part of who he is and part of the way the others think of him. All his life this strange ability has, at best, been useful and at worst, brought him the worst heartache and pain he's ever known. Now, in this second, for once in his life, Steve decides to use his ability for his own personal fulfillment.

"That's a lie too." Steve replies, as he takes slow, deliberate strides toward her, his heart hammering so loud his pulse is ringing in his ears. "Being alone is the last thing you want or need right now."

He can see the flash of irritation in her eyes at his comment; good, irritated is far better than the misery he's just been witness to. Determined not to let her shut him out, Steve closes the distance between them. He stops in front of her, mere centimeters separating their bodies, nearly more than he can stand to have between them.

Steve stares intently at her face as he demands, "Go ahead Claudia, tell me another."

Unnerved by his proximity and the intensity in his eyes, Claudia stammers, "I-I r-really hate you right n-now, Steve."

"Lie." He responds, his voice low and gravelly as he continues, "I'm tired of lies. Tired of lying, to myself, to you, to everyone here."

"Lying about what?" Claudia whispers, as her face flushes, her breathing becomes irregular and a familiar, yet unnamed burning slid through her veins.

To answer, Steve slides his arm around her waist, pulling her body ardently to his and twines the fingers of his other hand in her hair. He leans down until his lips are so close to hers that he can feel the heat radiating from them.

"_Now or Not At All_", he thinks to himself.

_**Now, absolutely now!**_

"About this," he growls before pressing his mouth hungrily against hers, savoring the sweet taste of her lips.

Slowly, he drags the tip of his tongue against her full, luscious mouth and rumbles with long repressed desire when he feels the softness of her tongue glide around his. Steve loses himself in the feel and scent of her, he revels in every sigh and moan that escapes the silken suppleness of her lips, willingly drowns in the deep pools of her eyes.

Lust grips him tightly as he takes full advantage of his height, bending Claudia backward until they topple onto her bed. Bodies press together as clothes are torn away, until the only feeling is skin sliding on burning skin. Hands slip along, gently caressing; each young lover wanting to be touched and needing to touch in return. Mouths feast on passionate cries and sweat slicked bodies, until the inferno raging inside can be denied no longer and he plunges inside the warmth of her softly yielding body.

Sensations blend together seamlessly, causing time to warp around them. As her hips roll upwards to meet his thrusts and her velvety smooth walls contract around him, Steve surrenders the last shred of restraint he possesses and calls Claudia's name desperately before he releases a hot flood inside her. Claudia arches wantonly into him, wrapping her legs around his hips, urging him to drive his pulsating hardness farther into her. She screams his name, as her muscles seize around him spasmodically, until they collapse together, too exhausted and content to move further.

Sometime later, their limbs still tangled together, Claudia gently brushes her fingertips across Steve's cheek. She smiles as his eyes drift open lazily and he stares in wonderment at the sight of her.

Staring into his adoring gaze, Claudia can't help but ask, "Why, Steve?"

He drops tender kisses on her neck before he answers, "Because the heart wants what the heart wants."

As he pulls Claudia astride his waist he says, "And the truth is, my heart wants you."

Settling herself against the proof of that want, Claudia whispers, "My heart has always wanted you."

Smiling as he slides gently into her, Steve replies, "I believe that's the truest thing you've said all night."

Groaning in pleasure, Claudia kisses him eagerly, commanding, "Enough talk, prove it!"

Steve Jinks spent the rest of that night and the rest of his life proving to Claudia Donovan-Jinks how much his heart (and the rest of him) wanted her.

Finis

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><p><strong><em>At last, sorry for the wait. Holidays kinda got in the way. Have had the chapter done for a few days, just got the chance to post it. Hope you like it. Reviews please. And if you're interested I might be persuaded to write another story in this line. So drop me a line and let me know, one way or the other. Warehouse 13 Rules!<em>**


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